The description of the personality of the American Financial District is both hilarious and frightening.
What They Say:
America’s Financial District repels C, sending the chain reaction right back towards Japan. When Mizuni’s next move proves even more costly than the last, Sato banks on a plan to send him into bankruptcy—but the window of opportunity is small.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The movements of the Financial Districts continues to be a fascinating piece of work as we see here how the American Financial District is intent on stopping the C wave from getting close to home. Through their powerful District, they’re intervening in all other markets around the world in order to crash them and redirect the wave. It’s a fascinatingly beautiful moment when the creature that represents that market faces off against the Japanese one as he has an almost insane grin about him, very reminiscent of the Joker from the Batman mythos. There’s a sense of power and crazy in there to do whatever it takes to protect those interests. That only serves to reinforce Mikuni’s position when he makes a plan to use the Japanese Financial Districts’ Rotary Press in order to push back against all of this. If it works, not only does it stop the wave but gains Mikuni’s group a boatload of money. But they also have a whole lot of collateral on the line.
Masakaki’s a real devil in the details that Mikuni pretty much misses in a way as he discovers that the collateral is half of his fortune, which is a real problem at this stage. Where it turns kind of odd, and in a way is part of the way the show feels out of balance at times, is when Kimimaro and Sato end up doing what they can to delay him by going into a pair of asset battles. There’s a really nice tender moment when it comes to Kimimaro and his asset, but the stakes are so high and she’s so intent on not being seen in the way he does her that she pushes back against him. The two certainly have an interesting relationship and even though I’m not a fan of the Deals as they go down in this series, they certainly are creative and this episode is no exception when it comes to Kimimaro’s fight here.
With the plans going on with so many sides pushing against each other, it can get pretty confusing at times and you can see how Sato overestimated her position against Mikuni. With her IMF angle at play, and having seen how they influence events, having her caught up and unable to achieve her goals puts a lot on the line. She’s not been a terribly engaging character in this series, but she has a really great moment at the end here that definitely makes you connect with her. But in the end, you know she wasn’t going to be the real shaker and mover here. It all has to come back down to Kimimaro who has a hard time grasping why Mikuni is doing things, the push he’s making and the loss and suffering that is occurring. Part of it is his own youth that helps to fuel that lack of understanding, the other is Mikuni’s confidence that he knows what’s right to achieve the goals he believes are best for Japan, which he also believes is the best for him. The more Mikuni does here, the more you can’t help but to want to see him do a full on series of power plays, control and manipulation.
In Summary:
Some shows can really master a sense of power and importance with what’s going on, but most tend to just feel juvenile and amateurish at best. With this series, and especially in the last couple of episodes and this one, we see a show that knows how to hit the right marks with its characters, the kind of setting for it and the way that words can bring about that sense much more so than anything else. Everything is reaching a really epic level where you can feel that so much is on the line with the existence of many, if not the majority of the world depending on how the wave goes and what Mikuni is after, but even more so after getting a taste of the American Financial District. This is a show that I find more and more that I want a fleshed out and detailed novelization of so it can explore all of it even more. Great stuff and definitely a real dark hose of a series that manages to engage beautifully.
Grade: A-
Simulcast By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.